Synthesis and Characterization of Electrodeposited NiOx Thin Film on Electrode Grade Carbon Plate for Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

The uniform NiO thin film composed of interconnected submicron sized granular particles with dense morphology is successfully electrodeposited on electrode grade carbon plate through electrochemical strategy. In the first stage, Nickel oxide/hydroxides are synthesized on the carbon substrate in 0.15M Nickel Nitrate hexahydrate[Ni(NO3)2 .6H2O] aqueous electrolyte. In the second stage, as synthesized film is annealed at 2500C @ 50C/min in a muffle stove to completely convert any existing hydroxides to nickel oxide. The microstructures, phase and surface composition are investigated through SEM, XRD and EDX. Electrochemical performance of NiO modified carbon electrode was evaluated through CV. The specific capacitance of carbon electrode was estimated to be enhanced from 4 F/g to 254 F/g in 1M KOH electrolyte with electrochemical deposition of thin porous NiO film. The linear behavior of maximum anodic current with scan rate shown by CV curves confirmed the ideal electrode performance for supercapacitor applications.